Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Okay, this may sound horrible, but my fiance and I have yet to have a song, after 10 years together. It's a little ridiculous to say the least, that we both haven't been able to settle on one. This issue arrived after he popped the questioned, so why not make a post about wedding songs. I hope to inspire myself as well as may others out there that's in the same predicament as me. I've found over a 100 songs for our first dance, but only kept the updated songs. Hopefully I will be picking just ONE for our first dance at the reception.

First things first, I'm a rock-n-roll type of girl, so most of the songs I post will be something I call rock love. Now I haven't truly decided which song we will dance to for our first song, so wish me luck with that. The songs listed are not in order either, so feel free to make your own list and put your favorite in order.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

I had to make this post, because I know every bride wants a bridal hoodie! As soon as I said yes, the first thing I wanted to get was that cute hoodie that says bride in the back! I searched everywhere to find a cute hoodie and stumbled upon Just Jen. I absolutely loved all the bridal wear this website had to offer. Yes it's pricey, but they are so cute. I immediately started my campaign for my new fiance to purchase a bridal hoodie for me. He thought it was ridiculous for a while, but then he probably imagined how much I wanted to tell the world I was his. He eventually gave in (as they usually do) and bought me one. Hence, the picture below!

So I can imagine some of you are wondering why my hoodie doesn't say Bride. Well, once I convinced my fiance that this was a must have item, we then browsed through the website, and saw that you could actually customize your own hoodie!! Of course this excited me, so I opted to do a monogram of our names. This way I can wear the hoodie all the time, even after we've tied the knot! Very thrifty yes, but I love my bling, and this hoodie! I opted to use all Swarovski crystals, on a plain black zip up hoodie. The color of the Swarovski crystals on my hoodies called Crystal AB. It pops out like none other, especially on black. Every time I wear my hoodie in public, strangers ask me where I got my hoodie. (Which is probably better than whens the big day question if I had bride on the back of my hoodie. Not only would I look like a dork with a bride hoodie on in public, but strangers would be asking me that annoying question.)

The GHJ - my Fiance's letter of his first name- Gil. The H is the letter of the last name I will take- Hernandez, and the J is for my name Jesse :)

You can customize your hoodie the way you like, but this is how I decided to do mine so I can wear it (hopefully) for years! I won't always be a bride (even though it's been a few years of calling myself a bride) so the monogram on the back of my hoodie was the more logical choice.

This website does cute bridal wear-hoodies, if you don't want to customize yours.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Updated 6/23/2016: Russel and Hazel has uploaded the Wedding Binder Pages back on to their website!{(Feel free to pin this guide to your pinterest)} After searching high and low in every book store in my area for the perfect wedding planner...I decided to make my own. First of all, I love office supplies! I love the idea of planners, so this decision was easy for me. (I also made my own lesson planning notebook this way as well, since being a teacher is stressful enough. Lesson planning in style calms me!)

I started by searching google, tumblr, and pinterest. I came across several awesome sites that offer you an effective planner that include timelines, lists, contact info, etc.

I already had a binder that I loved, so I started with that. I did get it at Staples, and it's a Martha Stewart office supply (1 inch binder). I absolutely love Martha Stewart office supplies, and I actually made my lesson planning book using the Martha Stewart's discbound notebook. Anyways, Staples always has coupons in their weekly ad for the Martha Stewart's office supply line. I did buy new dividers for this planner, and a zip pouch to hold all my small business cards. (These are apart of the Martha Stewart office supply line at Staples.) The beautiful pen that's on top of my planner was actually a gift, but it's a Swarovski Crystalline Rose Pearl Pen. I call it my teacher/bride pen. I really love this pen, and to be honest its the best pen I have ever owned. It's not heavy, and it writes really great. (It makes that special pen sound when writing :))

These pens are sold on Swarovski website but the place to buy one is actually on Amazon.com. The Swarovski website sells them but their always out of stock. Buying it off Amazon is much better because not only do they have the pen in stock, but it's cheaper and they can ship it to your house.

Everyone has a different way of planning, so you can customize your planner the way you want. I just started by trying not to spend too much money on something I will ultimately breakdown and throw away. I bought my post it's at the dollar store (I try and go to the dollar store whenever I see one). I use them for everything, so I stuck my post it panel in my wedding planner, because let's face it...everyone needs their post it's. (And we don't want to spend more than what's needed for them either.) They do their job, and the best part of this is that it fits right into the binder, and has different sizes, and shapes!! I love it. Only $1. After my post it's, I have my Martha Stewart zip pouch. The total cost of my wedding planner ($14.17- this includes the already bought binder. Make sure you wait to buy anything at Staples until there's a good coupon. I waited until I saw a 40% off coupon.)

First, I have to tell you that all the paper that's in my planner was printed, and FREE!! (I will include the free printable links. Free printable Wedding Planners are everywhere online.) I started with my calendar. I actually found this calendar on a website called Infarrantly Creative. (Thank you Infarrantly Creative for this calendar) Click here for the Free printable calendar.

UPDATE 11/15/2013: Since writing this post, I do use the calendar in this planner, but I also found another great resource from Michelle Lea Designs. I need a weekly planner to help me organize my weeks separatley. I used this weekly planner in my bridesmaids planners, and I love it so much I printed out 52 weeks of the weekly planner for my own Wedding Planner. Michelle's blog has so many other printable planners for all you DIY ladies out there, I strongly recommend that you visit her blog to find so much more!!

Don't get scared if it refers you to a blog planner website. This is a blog calendar, Yes...lol but I have my specific ways, and I preferred a portrait calendar over a landscaped calendar. I have to have my calendar, because it's not a planner without one. If you plan differently and don't need a calendar, then go ahead and skip this step. I should also include that Martha Stewart actually has an insert-able calendar to go with this binder. If you prefer it, but I didn't get it because it was pricey and I thought why buy something you can get for free on the Internet right? So I searched, and searched and finally came across this calendar. You can fill it in and print out as many as you need.

The Wedding Planner I use (downloaded, and printed) is from Russell&Hazel. click here to get the CLICK HERE for russell&hazel free printable wedding planner. Thank you Russell&Hazel for this amazing wedding planner. It has almost everything that you need. It's free, and downloadable. It's getting the job done. (It's been really hard to try and send this planner to each person who asks for it. I'm sorry for any delays, but it's been a hard job keeping up with the blog, especially since this post is three years old. The link works, If it does not go to the Russel and Hazel website. All the way at the bottom of the page there is a link called "Ideas" click on that. The wedding planner is all the way at the bottom called "Wedding Binder Pages PDF download" I hope everyone gets what they need from this post, and best of luck!)